spritzer

This one might work: https://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/EDAC/305-014-500-202?qs=XeJtXLiO41RmPm5Oq5cTfQ%3D%3D 14 posistions, 1.6mm board thickness and 3.96mm pitch between the pins

This is beyond cool: I have the EV-1's user manual here and it was a fascinating thing

Could very well be but the MLER points specifically to the stators, multi layer electrode rigid, if I remember correctly.

I'm calling BS on it being any different, at least from the pics I've seen so far. The housing clearly is but that has minimal effect on the sound.

Looks to be 350KYen... Funny they are going back to the silver electrodes and they look identical to the first ones I have sitting on my desk. The plastic housing has been changed though

Thanks but I have a local company that does 3D printing for me plus almost all of the PCB companies offer it for next to nothing.

In my forever quest to make electrostatics from cheap dynamic headphones, I just got a pair of these, the Kiwi Ears something or the other: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009234464157.html?pvid=c3232602-d097-4531-93f9-6433fea6c6ac&pdp_ext_f={"ship_from":"CN","sku_id":"12000048952692658"}&scm=1007.25281.473483.0&scm-url=1007.25281.473483.0&scm_id=1007.25281.473483.0&pdp_npi=6%40dis!USD!US %2469.99!US %2459.49!!!69.99!59.49!%402101529317631651718268540ec641!12000048952692658!gdf!IS!134806951!X!1!0!n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3A824946d7%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&mainPicRatio=1&spm=a2g0o.tm1000037862.2920499520.d0&aecmd=true They seem to be good contenders for this, dual cable entry, earpads which will work nicely for electrostatic duty and they are dirt cheap. The baffle has a row of holes around the driver face but I'd use 4 of them to mount the new drivers and the first PCB will cover up the rest. Some light glue there would help it seal better. This does mean the baffle won't have to be modified at all, just pull out the drivers (which is a pain) and I also took off the foam but it's not that difficult. I've already modified my Superlux/Beyerdynamic drivers to fit them and I'll order some PCB's up tomorrow. The only issue I can see, aside from the usual baffle woes, is the close to zero clearance to fit the mounting screws for the drivers. The earpads are on a bayonet piece and there is no distance between it and the baffle. It is possible to use counter sunk screws and just modify the baffle to fit them flush so that will be my first test. The opening is roughly 46mm and the drivers are 67mm in diameter with a 55mm opening to clear a raised part of the inside of the baffle.

I just checked them and the channel imbalance has drifted a bit but not as bad as they used to get which was completely dead. I'm not sure why they are getting worse though, could be because the coating is too thick. I could barely touch the diaphragm from fear it would rip off the ring completely. I might go in again for a second try or just design new rings to hold the diaphragms. The coating on the DIY sets seems to hold up just fine as I'm currently listening to the Senn HD600e and they are perfectly balanced. The EX-1a is a great and there are still ways around those pesky tariffs for those so inclined... In Stax related news, I just stretched my first ever SR-009 replacement diaphragms tonight. I've already redesigned the spacers a bit but we'll see if these work for a first try. New dust covers and a new way to mount the earpads too which doesn't take an hour to do. These drivers were completely shot but I'll have to wait on some o-rings and screws to work any more on this project.

Years and years of hoarding!!!

I'm using Comfort fabric softener and it works well. Whether it will hold up long term... that's a whole other matter

The drivers are genuine, there is just no way to reuse the stock rings so I had to have my own made. The 009 diaphragm rings make zero sense too as there is no way to solder to them so PCB's here make a lot more sense. Plus more insulation as the stock setup is not ideal. The stators and the case will be stock and I went for slightly thicker rings for the dust covers to add more compression to the drivers. I'm also going to replace all the o-rings with better units. One thing I want to do as well is plug that hole in the center of the stators. I don't understand the reasoning behind it and it might be one of the reason why the 009's sound so bad.

They will have new diaphragms so they will be tonally completely different.

For the cable entry as a prototype but probably milled once I'm happy with the piece. The drivers will be fitted with new diaphragms and dust covers (as they were shot on this set) so that means PCB's for that plus a new way to fix the earpads in place.

Thanks. :) More hopefully on the way soon plus maybe some speakers

Interesting, the 009 cable entry surely can be adapted for that and it makes sense to make just one cable for everything. Edit: I've designed a new cable entry for the 009 project I'm working on but with a fixed cable as I have so many in stock. The stock cable entry is a bit of a joke with that flimsy piece of plastic covering half of it.